An Evening of Hope, Revisited
We had a great night at Harvest with Steven Curtis Chapman.
Steven performed songs from his amazing CD Beauty Will Rise, which was written in the aftermath of his little girl Maria going to heaven. I shared a message based on the words of Jesus, as He reminded us to not let our hearts be troubled.
Many of us have troubled hearts. Some of us have broken ones, as well. Things did not turn out the way we thought they would.
We imagined our lives would be happy, tidy, and safe. But then tragedy hit, or pain arrived unannounced at your front door. Like an unwanted visitor, it won’t go away.
Who are you, God?
In his song “Questions,” Steven sings:
Who are You, God?
Cause you are turning out to be so much different than I imagined.
And where are You, God?
Cause I am finding life to be so much harder than I had planned . . .
You know that I believe in You
But still I have these questions.
Is He safe?
Many of us have those questions about life as well.
In his book The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, C.S.Lewis writes about a conversation between Little Lucy and Mrs. Beaver.
Lucy is very nervous about meeting Aslan, the Great Lion, and her sister Susan asks, “Is he–quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion!”
Mrs. Beaver replies, “That you will, dearie, and make no mistake, if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
Lucy says, “Then he isn’t safe?”
Mrs. Beaver responds, “Safe? Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course, he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
That’s right, God is good. The Bible reminds us to give thanks unto the Lord for He is good!
Jesus tells us “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1) and then gives us three important truths that will bring calm to our stormy hearts.
To see this message and hear Steven Curtis Chapman sing, click here. And don’t miss the conversation that he and I had about grief.
